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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tech Watch
MC Frontalot dishes top 5 PAX East survival tips
By Rodney H. Brown
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MC Frontalot is the musical voice of PAX, but the California native now living in Brooklyn, N.Y., is no stranger to Greater Boston. During his early musically formative years Frontalot (also known as Damian Hess when not rocking a mic) was a starving rapper living in Davis Square. Now he is the godfather of the subgenre known as nerdcore rap, and is a somewhat less starving rapper. Frontalot wrote the official theme song for the Penny Arcade Expo and will be performing March 26. Below, the PAX veteran lays out what you need — and why you need it — to have a sane and safe PAX experience.
1) A plan. There’s more to do and see than you think. You will miss panels, you will get stranded in lines for freebies and premieres, you will get lost in a card game and dawn will surprise you. Dawn is not a cute gamer lass; she is a lightening of the sky that indicates you’ve been up all night. Go through the schedule and figure out your can’t-miss-’ems. I suggest that you put the Friday night concert on the top of that list. I hear it’s going to be choice.
2) Equipment. Bring a backpack or you’ll be walking around with a giveaway tote bag that features a gigantic ad for a game you’d never play. Weapon-like costume accessories will get you hassled by the Boston constabulary, so have something in which to smuggle them back and forth from the con center. A refillable water bottle or camelpak will save you from decimating your nervous system and liver with the free Bawlz all day long. Nintendo DS picto-chat seems to be the inter-gamer communications channel of choice, but you’ll want to also tote your PSP just in case, and of course an Atari Lynx to show off your retro cred. Chargers! Batteries! A solar panel! A home-made hand-cranked variable-voltage DC brick! And the really smart kids always have a poster tube slung over their shoulders.
3) A sense of decorum. There are 60,000 nerds crammed into one building. Toes are going to get stepped on, lines are going to get cut, and Jigglypuff is going to pwn you in Smash Brothers. Take it all in stride. Remind yourself that everyone’s here to play, and keep that grin up. When faced with a path, gravitate towards the light side of the force. I think you can handle it.
4) A basic grasp of human hygiene. By this, I pretty much just mean deodorant. But showers could also be involved. Day three of these things tends to get kind of funky. Be part of the solution.
5) Your badge. In fact, I hope that’s the first thing you got a hold of, because this mammerjammer is sold out.
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